I recently flew Continental and received a complimentary meal on the flight. While I have to tip my hat to them for providing a free hot meal on a domestic flight (are they the only ones?) I was fascinated with a particular item they gave me.

They bestowed upon me, along with a salad and some candy, a “Turkey BBQ Bake.” In practice it is similar to a Hot Pocket. And I was hungry, so I ate it. But when I dug in, expecting to find Turkey and BBQ sauce, I discovered this odd mush which bewildered and frightened me.

On my flight back, I got another one.  Instead of eating it, I took it home and dissected it to document this peculiar food item. The methodology I followed was not unlike “unboxing” videos you find about tech gadgets (examples here, here & here).

So, without further ado, I present: The Continental Airlines Turkey BBQ Bake

This is what it looks like served to you on the plane. The candy and salad dressing are underneath the Turkey BBQ Bake.

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I took it home and put it on one of my nicer white plates.

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Next, you remove the wrapper.

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Horizontal top view of the Turkey BBQ Bake

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Vertical top view of the Turkey BBQ Bake

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Next I cut it down the middle. The cross-section you see is a good example of how it looks after you’ve taken a bite out of it. You expected it to look more like pieces of turkey, right?

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Here I’ve split one the halves open so you can get a good look at the insides.

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And for the grand finale, I scooped the insides out of both halves and piled them up on the plate.

This concludes our tour of the Continental Airlines Turkey BBQ Bake.